Book Club Discussion: My True Love Gave to Me, Twelve Holiday Stories

Welcome to the Book Club discussion for My True Love Gave to Me, Twelve Holiday Stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins. Below is a list of discussion questions to get the conversation started. We are excited to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. We’ve added our thoughts for each question as well. Feel free to answer all the questions, or pick and choose a few questions to discuss!

Did you enjoy reading the collection of short stories? How did the experience compare to reading a full novel?

I enjoyed the fact that I was able to pick it up and read through a story in one sitting. Getting to the end of one story and moving on the the next one was fun. It was also nice to be able to move on from stories I didn’t care for as much!

Which was your favorite short story and why?

Angels in the Snow was my favorite. I liked that it was relatable, modern, and did not contain any fantasy elements. The main character’s mother had recently passed away and he was going through the holiday season without her for the first time. Having had a parent recently pass, this portion of the story was quite relatable. Polaris came in second, the concept was so cute!

Which was your least favorite short story and why?

Krampusklauf was my least favorite! The story felt very young to me and when it turned out the cramps creature was real, not just in costume, the story lost me completely.

Did you notice any recurring themes throughout the anthology?

Each story was based around a couple. I realized about halfway through that all the couples from the stories were depicted in the ice skating rink on the cover! It was fun using the visual clues to figure out who was who. I was actually surprised that love wasn’t the main theme in every story, even though most contained a romantic element. In many stories the holiday season was a background feature, not a front and center theme as I was expecting.